Mom has gone to this dealership since 1999. She bought a brand new Avalon from them in 1999. She had all the service done there, oil changes every 3k and so on. She bought a 2003 Honda Accord brand new but had it serviced at Spartan Toyota, as she liked the service department better. They have been the only ones to ever change the oil on this car ever. I noticed the car leaking a bit of oil the other day and crawl under there to realize the drain plug is finger tight and just spins. She takes the car to Spartan and they say the oil pan threads are worn out and they need to drill out the pan to replace with a new plug at a cost of $200, but will only charge her $125 because she has been going there for so long. Spartan says its common for these threads to wear out and that her car is old. I told my mom to go ahead and pay it, since they think there reputation is worth $125.

I have only heard about drain plugs stripping out because of excessive torque and cross threading. Am I wrong for thinking the dealer should have fixed this at no cost since they were the only ones to ever touch the drain plug since new?

Mom has gone to this dealership since 1999. She bought a brand new Avalon from them in 1999. She had all the service done there, oil changes every 3k and so on. She bought a 2003 Honda Accord brand new but had it serviced at Spartan Toyota, as she liked the service department better. They have been the only ones to ever change the oil on this car ever. I noticed the car leaking a bit of oil the other day and crawl under there to realize the drain plug is finger tight and just spins. She takes the car to Spartan and they say the oil pan threads are worn out and they need to drill out the pan to replace with a new plug at a cost of $200, but will only charge her $125 because she has been going there for so long. Spartan says its common for these threads to wear out and that her car is old. I told my mom to go ahead and pay it, since they think there reputation is worth $125.

I have only heard about drain plugs stripping out because of excessive torque and cross threading. Am I wrong for thinking the dealer should have fixed this at no cost since they were the only ones to ever touch the drain plug since new?

old hondas are in fact known for stripping out oil pan plugs - they use a specific crush washer at every change as the indicator of proper torque. no idea if a toyota dealer would do that or not.

all 3 of my old hondas ('88 - '91) crx/civic's had to have a new bung installed.

I work at a honda Dealership as a lub tech and this happens all the time, the most common is that era accord. I have no idea if the dealership pays for it or if the costumer does.

I don't know how toyotas are set up but all hondas take the same plug, crush washer, oil filter so you can get going on a good pace and theres nothing worse then to get a (in my case) none honda vehicle. It doesn't bother me so much as others but it can piss people off and make them hurry through it. Causing said damages

Buy an American car? Of all the dozens of cars I've had with more than 100k on them I've never seen a worn out drain plug (plenty with idiots using 9/16" on a 14mm rounding the corners) except on Japanese junk including an iFarce V8. Must be why most of the oil change places suck it out of the dipstick tube.

If she has had all the oil changes done there they should cover it. Every place i have ever work has if they were the last one to change the oil. And they should have told her before she left not sent the car out leaking oil. Might be worth talking to a service manager over.

When i out a bolt in and it keeps spinning, i know its stripped out, not saying it is their fault, but they should have told her.

Well, he didn't say it was 'spinning', just that it was finger tight. I have had marginal threads that tightened ok and loosened up. In fact,I just had to replace a hydraulic motor mounting plate on a machine for this reason.

They are willing to split their normal fee, at least they didn't say 'not our problem'.

Well, he didn't say it was 'spinning', just that it was finger tight. I have had marginal threads that tightened ok and loosened up. In fact,I just had to replace a hydraulic motor mounting plate on a machine for this reason.

They are willing to split their normal fee, at least they didn't say 'not our problem'.